This invention relates to business model methods involving a global computer network allowing electronic mail (e-mail) communication between users and software for providing advertising content on e-mail communications and for tracking e-mail activity.
It is well known in modern advertising to present advertising content to potential consumers in contexts which were considered to be overly intrusive and off-limits only a short time ago. Manufacturers took the first step by conspicuously branding their finished products with external labels and the like, so that a constant reminder of the source of the goods would be presented. Clothing designers began using their trademarks as an external design element. Baseball caps and T-shirts bearing advertising messages are now ubiquitous. Television broadcast stations and networks have moved from identifying themselves during commercial breaks to continuously superimposing their logo into a corner of the screen. Sporting events and stadiums bear corporate names. In the world of the Internet, individual web sites contain banner ads for other products and services. Software allows a banner ad on one web site to be a direct portal to the advertiser's own site by a simple click of the mouse. Thus, the consuming public is no longer sufficiently bothered by the presence of advertising copy for it to be received in a negative light in almost any imaginable context.
One of the major uses for the Internet is for the transmission of communications from one user to another user, which is commonly known as electronic mail or e-mail. Each user has an unique e-mail address, allowing the correspondence to be sent directly to the recipient. Millions of e-mail messages are sent and received each day, and e-mail is now as commonplace a method of exchanging information as the telephone, telefax or the postal system.
This incredibly large amount of Internet e-mail traffic is not currently being utilized as an advertising vehicle. It is an object of this invention to provide a business model and methodology for embedding advertising into individual e-mail communications, where the e-mail sender is compensated for transmitting e-mail containing the advertising. It is a further object to provide software programming which monitors the e-mail traffic in order to properly credit and compensate the e-mail sender. It is a further object to have the embedded advertising structured to allow the e-mail recipient to connect directly with the advertiser's web site by a single mouse click, as well as to join in the compensated advertising program. It is a further object to provide software which is capable of detecting fraudulent or mass e-mailings sent merely for the purpose of receiving compensation. These and other objects not expressly stated are to be accomplished as disclosed below.